Tributes have been paid to an Irish nurse who was killed by a falling tree in Australia.
The victim was named as Mary Ellen Molloy, a nurse from near Ardara in Co Donegal who was staying in the Armadale suburb in Melbourne.
Mary was the niece of All-Ireland winning Donegal captain Anthony Molloy, who is also a Fianna Fail councillor.
It is reported she was sitting in the back of a moving sedan which was travelling down Kings Way in the south of the city when a eucalyptus tree fell on the back of the car at around 9pm on Friday evening.
The 25-year-old was rushed to hospital but passed away from her injuries.
There were four people in the vehicle - a friend sitting beside her is understood to have been injured, while the driver and front seat passenger escaped harm.
Local 7News reported a resident as saying the group were all Irish tourists.
The woman, one of the first on the scene, told 7News: “They were all from Ireland, they were tourists, they had no one here.
“They were so young and so happy and they had all Christmas tinsel in the car.”
A friend of Mary Ellen’s said: “She had a wonderful personality who could light up a room with her smile.
“She was lovely inside and out and this a terrible blow to her family at this time of the year.”
A tribute from CLG Ard an Ratha, the GAA club in Ardara, read: “We awaken today as a Parish, numbed by the news from Australia of the death of Mary Ellen Molloy in Melbourne yesterday evening.
“Mary Ellen was a beautiful girl with a permanent smile who lit up every room she walked into.
“Her love for her family was always so evident whenever they were together, and we can only imagine the grief that Terence, Angela, John Ross, Karl Joseph and the Molloy and Gillespie families are feeling at this time.
“As a community we have lost yet another shining light and as ever, we will do whatever we can to assist them at this terrible time.
“God bless everyone who knew and loved the beautiful girl from Edergole.
“God rest you Mary Ellen x.”
Mary’s parents Terrence and Angela Molloy own the Blue Haven Hotel in Kilcar and she was a past pupil of Glenties Comprehensive School.
The large Molloy family are very well known in GAA and business circles in Ardara and the wider south west Donegal areas.
The Royal Hospital Melbourne released a statement overnight.
It read: “We are supporting the family and colleagues of one of our nurses who tragically died when a tree fell on her car.
“We send our deepest sympathies to the nurse’s family and friends, who are grieving over this heartbreaking loss.”
Australia’s Department of Transport and Victoria Police are investigating the incident.
